Elevated railway



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H L BOYLE ELEVATED RAILWAY.

No. 555,921. Patented Mar. 10, 1896.

(No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet 2. H. L. BOYLE. ELEVATED RAILWAY.

No. 555,921. Patented Mar. 10, 1896.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-$heet 3.

H. L.BOY LE. ELEVATED RAILWAY.

No. 555,921. Patented Mar. 10,1896.

Fig? 5.

A'r'wntw EGRAHAM.PHVFOUFHQWASHINGYUN DC (No Model'.) 1 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

H. L. BOYLE. ELEVATED RAILWAY.

No.55.5,9Z1." ratentedlvxanlmla' a.

HOMER L. BOYLE, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

ELEVATED RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,921, dated March10, 1896.

A li ti fil d March 2, 1894. Serial No. 502,120. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HOMER L. B0 YLE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and usef ul Improvements in Elevated Railways;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in railways, and moreparticularly to elevated street-railways.

The principal objects of the invention are to provide a simple,efficient andinexpensive elevated-railway track, especially adapted foroperating suspended street-railway cars, and to dispense with thecumbersome, heavy and expensive beams or girders usually cmployed instructures of this character.

The invention will first be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of this specification, and then pointed outin the claims at the end of the description.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l represents an end view of anelevated railway constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 isa detail sectional plan taken upon the line II II of Fig. 1, lookingdownward. Fig. 3 is an end View showing a modification of the invention,and Fig. 4 is a detail plan showing a modification of the hinge-jointedtrack. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation longitudinally of the railway,the section being taken through two of the cross-beams or girdersbetween the hangers at the right of Fig. 1, with the suspended carremoved. Fig. 6 is a detail section taken on the line VI VI of Fig. 5.Fig. 7 illustrates a transverse section of an elevated superstructurewith provision for suspending three cars and showing rigid track-rails,such as may be employed at street-corners or in passing around curves.

A A in the drawings may denote pillars or posts, which may be arrangedat suitable intervals along the line of the railway and supporthorizontal bars or cross-beams B, from which the railway-cars aresuspended. The posts or pillars A may be braced by suitable lateraltie-rods or braces in any desired manner, so as to adapt them to resistlateral strain, it being my purpose to dispense with the usual beams orgirders which extend between the arches or elevated supports upon whichthe cars are suspended.

C 0 denote hangers depending from the cross-beams or superstructure Bandhaving lateral arms or projections c c to support the hinge-jointedrails D D of the track. These rails are composed of a series of platesor links pivoted together in the form of a sprocketchain and may befirmly secured to or upon arms a c or c o of the hangers O or O, as

shown more clearly in Fig. 5, by means of slotted plates or bars I I, towhich the ends of the rail-sections D are connected, each plate beingprovided with a screw-threaded stem c, which passes through a bracket Krigidly secured to the lateral arms of the hangers or to a rigid bar orrail-section L, extending between the hangers, said stem being providedwith a nut z" to adapt the linked rails or sprocket-chain to betightened by adjusting said slotted plates, so as to keep the rails tautbetween the cross-beams or supports. As an additional securing means andto prevent the plates I from tilting or turning sidewise, bolts Z arepassed through the slots in the plates I and have suitable nuts on theends thereof to hold the plates rigidly in a vertical position. Theparallel linked track-rails may be prevented from spreading between thegirders by the flanges upon the wheels, and for turning curves orstreet-corners solid rail-sections of any suitable construotion-as, forinstance, an ordinary street-railway rail, as shown in Fig. 7 may beused, extending between the posts which support the hangers. By thisconstruction I dispense with the usual heavy beams 0r girders extendinglongitudinally between the arches and provide a light and efficienttrack, which at the same time possesses great strength and is much lessexpensive than the heavy and costly beams that are ordinarily requiredfor such purposes.

E E denote railway-cars of ordinary construction,which are suspendedfrom the track in such position as to be raised only slightly above thesurface of the street, so as to permit easy access to or egress from thecars for the purpose of carrying passengers or loading freight and forsimilar purposes. These cars may be suspended in various ways, twodifferent methods being illustrated in Fig. 1 and a third method in Fig.3 of the drawings. At the left of Fig. 1 I have shown a pair ofsprocket-wheels F journaled in a suitable frame mounted upon the top ofthe car, said frame having mounted thereon standards f, either or bothof which may be detachable for the purpose of attaching or removing thecar when desired. The wheels F are so arranged as to form with the frameand standards f a yoke embracing the traclcrail's, so as to preventremoval or disconnection of the car when once properly connected. Thesprocket-wheels may also be provided with flanges f adapted to retainthe wheels upon the track-rail and prevent lateral movement thereof.

At the right of Fig. 1 I have shown a truck G, from which the car issuspended and which is provided with sprocket or other suitable wheelsII II, and in this instance there are two hangers, arranged, one ateither side of the truck, and upon the lateral arms of which thesprocket-chains or track-rails are supported without braces or otherconnections between the chains.

In the construction illustrated at the left of Fig. 1 a single hanger isused, and, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2, the chains are connected bytie-rods or braces d d, or by means of cross-rods or braces d, as shownin Fig. 4. In either case the teeth or flanges will prevent the wheelsfrom running off the rails. Either the teeth or the flanges may,however, be dispensed with.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a car suspended from a single hinge-jointed railor sprocket-chain D, which extends between the elevated horizontal armsor beams K, supported by the columns or pillars L, at one side only ofthe street, the beam K being braced by means of a brace-rod or truss 70.

It will be understood, of course, that the cars may be suspended from arailway-track of the described construction in various ways and that thetrack itself may be supported upon cross beams or arches without the useof hangers. Hence I do not desire to be limited to any particular formof elevated structure.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. An elevated-railway track comprising a superstructure provided withhangers depending therefrom, and track-rails consisting of a series ofhinged links or plates supported by said hangers, substantially asdescribed.

2. An elevated railway comprising a superstructure provided with pendenthangers, track-rails consisting of a series of hinged links or platessupported by said hangers, and cars suspended from said track rails and.adapted to be propelled along the track, substantially as described.

3. An elevated-railway track consisting of a series of cross-beamssupported on suitable posts or pillars arranged along the track,hangersdepending from said cross-beams, and track-rails consisting of hingedlinks or sprocket-chains connecting the hangers and supported thereby,substantially as described.

4. In combination with an elevated-railway track having track-railscomposed of sprocket-chains connected to hangers secured to elevatedsupports, trucks provided with sprocket-wheels arranged to travel alongsaid rails, and cars suspended from said trucks so as to travel slightlyabove the surface of the street, substantially as described.

5. In combination with an elevated-railway track having the track railor rails composed of sprocket-chains, a car suspended from wheelsarranged to travel along said chains, substantially as described.

6. An elevated-railway track consisting of a series of cross-beamssupported 011 suitable posts or pillars arranged at intervals along thetrack, and track-rails consisting of hinged links or sprocket-chainsconnecting the crossbeams, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HOMER L. BOYLE. lVitnesses OHAs. E. RIoRDoN, J. A. E. GRIsWELL.

